The region’s new multi-million pound bin system is more than £400,000 over budget.

And that figure is set to rise to more than £700,000 in the next 12 months.

The situation was outlined in a report for councillors with officials admitting: “There is no doubt that this whole exercise has been a significant learning curve for the service.”

The matter will now be the subject of a special meeting of the economy, environment and infrastructure committee.

The new five-bin system was due to be rolled out across the region last year but so far has only been introduced in Wigtownshire.

The report added: “There are a number of issues that require to be addressed before any consideration can be given to rolling out a new collection system to the rest of the region.”

The report detailing the issues in Wigtownshire was due to be debated by the committee on Tuesday. However, councillors agreed to defer it for a special meeting as they felt they hadn’t had enough time to consider the report, which they only received on Friday.

The report stated that in 2012 councillors were told there were additional costs for the new system and they allocated an extra £400,000 for the financial year 2014/15. It was estimated £112,000 of that would be spent in Wigtownshire.

However, the report said introducing the new system in Wigtownshire alone cost £435,000 more than expected.

Contributing to the extra costs are 26 extra staff due to collection routes taking longer, the need for 10 bin lorries, rather than five, and bringing in dedicated vehicles for commercial waste. There was also “considerable” cost recovering a lorry that went off a narrow road, although no one was injured in the accident.

The new service was due to be introduced in Wigtownshire at the start of last year with the Stewartry following in August 2014.

However, after Zero Waste Scotland urged the council to “take more time” with the plans, the service wasn’t introduced in Wigtownshire until August 2014.

The report asked councillors to agree various steps that need to be taken before the service can be introduced to the rest of Dumfries and Galloway, including reviewing routes and addressing issues raised by unions.

Problems found by a consultant also need to be addressed, including the fact gloves for handling food waste weren’t waterproof and there are difficulties storing plastic and paper on windy days.

Also causing a delay is the need to finalise changes to the council’s waste PFI contract, details of which will be presented to the committee in November.